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It's hot, real hot in Bujumbura!

It’s HOT… real HOT!! We have spent the first few days in Bujumbura, staying with Doug and Deanna. The younger guys are staying a 10 minute walk away, at an orphanage called the Rainbow Centre. On Sunday when we first arrived, we had a church service in the afternoon at the Rainbow Centre. It is in a building without walls- it is amazing to worship God in the midst of the beautiful surroundings- mountains, birds, palm trees. Ed spoke that afternoon and Doug lead worship. This service was in English- the only one so far. By the evening- we were all so tired! It was a loonnnggg day!

On Monday, we started the day early. After breakfast we met with Zachee, Doug and Deanna’s close friend. He gave us a brief history of Burundi. It is such a beautiful place among so much conflict. After the meeting, we went to the market in town. It was so chaotic! There is nothing at home that I can compare this experience to. Imagine a place packed with people. It is impossible to walk through the market without running into people. Being in a group of 9 white people- everyone stopped and stared at us. They shouted “mzungu” at us, which means white. Everywhere we went people shouted at us! We went through the different sections in the market. Burundians were hacking away at the meat with machetes. The smell was so strong and got worse as we entered the area of dried fish. Fish sat out among tons of tables surrounded by flies. After we had seen most of the market, we picked up some colourful pails/buckets for the ladies at the AIDS centre that we visited later in the week. Some of the guys practiced carrying the bright coloured buckets on their heads. There were 75 buckets in total. We spent the rest on the afternoon organizing the clothes and the items in the bags that we had brought from home- while the other half of our team had a worship practice. We ended off the evening with a Burundian dinner at Doug and Deanna’s house. We had rice, ubugali (looks like play dough!), a cabbage salad with tomatoes and avacados, and tender beef in a sauce. It was very good! For dessert we had fresh mangos!

Tuesday we packed a few things and got on a bus and headed up-country. As we left the city, we noticed a gradual temperature change. The view was incredible as we headed up the mountains – lush green fields of tea, palm trees, flowers, cows, people standing on the hillsides, people walking with huge loads on their heads, bikes, trucks, buses full - very full of people. The bus driver was very confident, driving through curves and turns , potholes – deep potholes, wash outs, honking as needed! We picked up people from Harvest for Christ Ministry, who were joining us on the journey. We thought the bus was full when we started, but there was always room for one more. The air was so clean and fresh compared to the city, and the scenery was breath-taking. We stopped in the town of Igenda and got settled into a guesthouse, run by nuns. We each had our own room. Then we got back on the bus, and drove to the place where a new church is being built. The setting was so beautiful up on the side of the mountain, with a stream nearby that was ice cold! The story of how the church was being formed is incredible. No one had the money to buy a plot of land for the church. The Catholic church looks at the evangelical church as being lost- so they were against having a church in this land. A university student, Leon had a huge vision. His father had given him a cow as a gift. Cows are very expensive here. Leon traded his cow for a plot of land. He donated this land to build a church. How amazing is this? It was very encouraging to see his heart for God. The people seem so passionate here- in their singing, dance and worship. It has been a blessing to see this. We continued to help build the church. A group of us went for a long walk through the valleys, and hills to hull up some long pieces of bamboo for the church walls. Many people were thankful to see this… especially seeing a 70 year old man (Jake) doing this! We brought some tools with us which were donated by some people at home. They came in very handy. By the time we had to leave to attend 2 church services- we had half the church built.

Great to be with Doug & Deanna

It is great to be here. Doug and Deanna and the girls are doing well, and have been great hosts. They have a vital, multi-faceted ministry going here, and it is great to be a part of it- even if for such a short time.

We have hit the ground running. On the 4th, our first day here, we had a service at the church that Doug and Deanna have attended. The team lead in worship, and speaking. We were encouraged to see how God calls His people together. On the second day, we organized the materials for distribution, while some of the team practiced for a worship service that will take place on Friday.

The team is healthy, and excited to be here. Today, Tuesday the 6th, we head up-country. Danielle and Cheryl will be speaking at a women’s service, while the guys help to build a church. God is at work in the community of Ijenda. He has used Harvest for Christ to bring reconciliation to this community. The churches are meeting together and working together.

Continue to pray for health and safety, as we are traveling the next couple of days, and for God’s provision as we serve the people in a variety of settings.

Long night, short sleep, sitting and waiting..

The team has survived a night crossing of the Atlantic. Everyone seems to be in good spirits, in fact some of the younger members are passing the time " hacky sacking". We will be departing shortly for Nairobi. We will try and add new posts with pictures as we are able.

Team 2008 Getting ready to go

Cornerstone Community Church is preparing to send third team to Burundi...

In our ongoing effort to partner with people and ministries in Burundi, we are preparing to send a team of 8 to Africa in early May. The team will be visiting churches, an Aids Resource Centre, schools and families. Our intention is to encourage and support the development and relief work that Doug and Deanna Hiebert have been involved with during the past 4.5 years.

Thanks to Cornerstone for making this possible through the support shown during the fundraising lunch held on April 13. The funds raised will be used to defer the travel, food, accomodations, and ministry costs for the team during their stay.

The team has also been gathering a variety of materials to distribute during their visit. We are planning on taking blankets that were made by Henry and Erna Hubert. We are also taking along clothing, donated by Earth Wares Adventure Apparrel, and a variety of other material goods.

We will try and update this Blog as we have opportunity during our visit.

Pinewood Derby and Community BBQ

Greetings to Cornerstone family around the globe. We plan on using this blog, not only to post updates about our missionaries and travelling members and their families, but as a forum for keeping everyone informed about what is happening at home in Virgil. For example, last Sunday, June 10th, we held two major events following the morning worship service -- a miniature car race and a community BBQ. See three of the BBQ cooks in the photo above.


The miniature car race was called the "Annual Pinewood Derby" and the cars used in the race were designed and built by the children themselves when they met at Cornerstone once a week during the spring months. Chuck Wiens and Kevin Wall organized the preparation time and the race itself with a very helpful group of volunteers -- who helped the children with their project (meeting each Monday evening for several weeks) and the race itself.


On Sunday, three children tied for top honours -- having had the fastest cars. The winners for first place went to Shannon Loewen, Brendan Gillard and Jason Gillard. Congratulations! Due to security and privacy concerns, there will be no photo shown of the children.


Then, at the same time as the Pinewood Derby was going on, Cornerstone hosted a community BBQ. As you will see in the photos at the top and below, there was lots of cooks and, as you can imagine, the food was excellent. Unlike last year, when the temperature was bitter cold, this year the weather was just perfect. As a result, we had lots of people stop by from the neighbourhood to see what was going on.


A good time was had by everyone who attended and, at the end of the day, it was agreed that it had been a great way of reaching out into the local community.

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Christine Wichert's Adventures in Africa

Photo: View from Mt. Songa

IN BUJUMBURA
I just had the great privilege of taking 4 of our Bible School students with me to visit Doug in Burundi and it was a fantastic time of fellowship and ministry. We arrived into Bujumbura on Friday, March 16 and our first team meeting with Doug was on the shores of Lake Tanganika under the tin roof of a gazebo during a torrential rain storm. Deafening, but very refreshing!

Photo:Team time at Doug & Deanna's House

We spent the first few days in Bujumbura and it was especially exciting to meet a dynamic young leader named Onesphore who heads up a ministry called Harvest for Christ, with the vision to raise up quality Christian leaders in the next generation through evangelism and discipleship. We had a couple of chances to share testimonies of Christ's work in our lives at that time, and it was encouraging to know that we are serving the same Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ - despite our vastly different cultural contexts.


IN GITEGA
On Tuesday, March 20, we headed into Gitega, the heart of the country,where Doug and Deanna spent their first 3 years. We had the chance to meet again a couple of days later to play Ultimate Frisbee with some of the youth, as well as watch some other young guys (that Doug had gotten to know) perform traditional Burundian drumming. It was really great to see the friendships that had developed in a relatively short time, and I was reminded of the importance of investing in the lives of others wherever we have opportunity. The impact on someone else's life could be immeasurable.


Photo: The guys joking around with Doug after the drumming performance.

During that time we were actually living and working at an orphanage just outside of Gitega that's run by Youth for Christ. This project is in it's earliest stages and they have 13 orphans currently, with the goal of being able to house 100, Lord willing. Now there are 3 buildings, but they hope to build about 30, including a school and a clinic in addition to more dormitories. We had the joy of playing with the kids quite a lot, but we also chipped in with one of their building projects and joined the local workers in lugging rocks and dumping them into the foundation trenches of their next building. It's all done by hand, of course, according to the strength of each one. I couldn't help but think of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem; restoration is a long slow process, but stone by stone the task will get accomplished if the workers are faithful to work.


Photo: Building the Kingdom, stone by stone

We left Gitega mid-morning on Friday, the 23, but before that we went on an early morning hike up Mount Songa, the highest peak in that area.(See photo top of page.)We joined together with some of the volunteers from the orphanage for the beautiful scenery, some breakfast, and a time of prayer for the needs of the people living and working below us. May God's Kingdom come and His will be done on earth - in Burundi (and Canada!) - as it is in Heaven.

IN KIRUNDO
So, on Friday we drove up to the northern province of Kirundo and on the way made a short rest stop at Mutaho, where the Cornerstone crew had spent some time last year(Feb./06). It was so encouraging to see the gifts that Cornerstone had brought to such a remote and impoverished area and to know that we can reach out to our neighbours around the world. Once in Kirundo, we spent a couple days working with the reforestation project that Brandon Thiessen is supervising and so he joined us for the weekend. Our main job was to hoe the seedlings that had been planted in the last couple years and I was thankful for all that farmwork in my younger years. (Thank-you Froese Farms!) It was actually a refreshing change from my usual work,and yet the locals couldn't stop laughing at us, presumably because they don't usually see "muzungus" doing manual labour. We decided we might as well join the fun and ended up laughing along with them.


Photo: Hoeing "101" with Brandon in Kirundo


IN KIGALI
From Kirundo, we headed up to Kigali, Rwanda on Tuesday, the 27th. Here, we spent some time learning about the history of the genocide in '94 and also some of the programs in place to restore peace and reconciliation in this broken land. It's hard to grasp the magnitude of the suffering in this whole region. It's also incredible to hear testimonies of those who have lost their whole families to the genocide and yet are able to say they've forgiven the killers. This kind of forgiveness is a total miracle and helps me to understand the depth of Christ's love for us, "...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us..." How can this be?


Photo:Widows and wives of men in prison because of the genocide join together

The 3rd World is another world, that's for sure, and it's hard to know where to begin making a dent in the mountain of need. My prayer for the students and myself before we went is that we would start to have a long-term vision of how to be involved, and I'm encouraged by the faithfulness of the Christian leaders we met at each stop. Like our stonework at the orphanage, may each one of us contribute according to our strength and ability, and step by step, stone by stone the work will get done to the glory of God.

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